Her Worst Nightmare Come True

The actress’ actions in the college admissions scandal have compromised her daughter’s future, her family and her own reputation

- Jaime Harkin

After an already agonizing six months, the days leading up to Felicity Huffman’s Sept. 13 sentencing for her role in the college admissions scandal were especially brutal. A week prior, while she and husband William H. Macy should have been happily celebrating their 22nd wedding anniversary, the star received some sobering news: The U.S. Attorney was recommending she spend a month in jail, complete a year of probation and pay a fine of $20,000.

She’d done everything in her power to avoid prison time. After being arrested at gunpoint by the FBI on March 12 and charged with fraud, a remorseful Huffman, 56, agreed to a plea deal and admitted her guilt in May. “I accept full responsibility for my actions,” she told the judge about paying Rick Singer, the mastermind behind the “Operation Varsity Blues” scandal, $15,000 to have someone correct her older daughter Sophia’s SAT answers.

Then, in letters addressed to the judge released on Sept. 6, Huffman and Macy, 69, revealed some shocking information in a desperate bid to get the courts to go easy on the Desperate Housewives star. The missives touch on everything from the severe trauma experienced by their daughters, Sophia, 19, and Georgia, 17, to Huffman’s crippling self-doubt as a mom and her uncertainty over her once super-successful acting career. “There’s no justification for what I’ve done,” writes Huffman. “But there is a bigger picture.”

IN HER OWN WORDS